Browsing: Food & Dining

So, you have figured out how to make a roux for that Sunday gumbo, and you know that the holy trinity needs to be cooked for a long time. Seasoning? Yup, Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning and red pepper flakes, that’s all it takes, but what about the stock? Should you just use chicken stock out of the box? Well, that really isn’t a good idea.

Tasty Thursday is a monthly event the 4th Thursday of every month. Selected vendors invade the old Singing River Mall Property along Hwy 90. The atmosphere is festive with highly decorated stands, flags, umbrellas, and contests.

October is definitely a gumbo month, although I’d like to see it just a bit cooler. Making gumbo in a summer-time hot kitchen just doesn’t seem right. But it certainly is just fine to start talking about it. So, let’s get one thing straight from the beginning, gumbo isn’t a recipe, it’s an opinion. I know the gumbo makers out there are rolling their eyes: what does this guy know about gumbo. Am I right?

Gumbo is a magical recipe in many ways, not only is it delicious when properly prepared, but I truly believe in its restorative powers. It’s also not a meal to be prepared or served alone. It’s a meal to make for family and friends. It is something to be shared.

But there is something you can do to help, and that is to get back down to your local seafood market and buy local seafood. It is 100% safe.

Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, defended their title and took home Best Presentation, Best in Show and the People’s Choice Award.

Let’s shake things up a bit, again, and talk about Italian-style pasta and red sauce this week. Please note, I said style, meaning sorta, kinda like the Italian way. This is not a traditional Italian recipe, because if you want to make a traditional Italian recipe, you have to be in Italy.

Let’s do something a bit different this week. Instead of talking about a specific restaurant or even a category, like po-boys, as dear as that subject is to me, let’s talk quality and technique, perhaps one of the most important subjects in the culinary world.

Orchid Indian Restaurant is one of my favorite places, and a great example of the point I was trying to make. I have been visiting Mike and Nike there for years.

Jackie Seavey, executive sous chef at Island View Casino Resort was declared champion of the Seventh annual World Food Championship. Seavey competed on May 17, 18 and 19 in The World Food Championship’s Final Table in New Orleans.

I’ve had a lot of good things to say about the food scene in Jackson County Home over the last few months, but the new Our Mississippi Home now celebrates the three lower counties, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, and pays a little attention to George County and Hattiesburg as well. That’s a wide net, my friend, but I have been traveling the back roads of Mississippi as a food and travel writer for 10 years and nothing excites me more than more interesting places to visit.

Although many cultures influenced the Southern food tradition, the heart of this cuisine is what has become known as soul food or just country cooking.

Pop-up suppers have been popular for quite a while (having a restaurant like experience in a non-typical restaurant environment) and seem to be happening more and more often.

Have you ever struggled to make fluffy, white rice like they do on TV?  Have you tried steaming it in a pot and burned it? There are a few other fancy recipes out there that take forever and produce marginal results, so what’s a poor cook to do?

Do any of these names ring a bell: True Wings, Twisted Magnolia, Mac Daddy’s Creole Kitchen, Chef in a Box, California Taco’s, Chow Me Down, Gourmet Grilled Cheese, or Charro’s Hot Tamales? They should if you are a foodie of any merit! They are all part of the food truck invasion that has hit Jackson County in the past year or so.

It’s summertime hot and who wants to stand over a hot stove on a day like this, right? Even outside,…